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The Affiliate List Under Fire

Jun 27, 2005
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On June 13th, Jeff Molander of Molander & Associates announced his newest project, The Affiliate List. It is advertised as a listing of the top retail-focused Web affiliates.


It wasn’t long before word got out to affiliates and the controversy began. Over on ABestWeb Haiko de Poel Jr, posted the press release on his forums announcing The Affiliate List. Shortly after the post, the conspiracy theorists got to work.

Some people there are saying that surely it must be Wayne Porter and his Afftrack people giving out the information for the list. (Note to conspiracy theorists, Wayne Porter has not worked at Afftrack for over 3 years.)

I bought the list and have looked it over. It looked to me that most of this information is widely available online if you know where to look. Jeff it seems has taken the time to compile it and make things easier for Affiliate Managers. This is not a list of deep affiliate trade secrets as some seem to think, just pretty basic stuff.

Several affiliates have become upset, saying they want to be removed from the list. And here I was, worried that I wouldn’t be on it! It brings to mind the Fortune 500 list, I have never heard of anyone asking to be removed from that list. It also seems to me after seeing the list that the most vocal against it are those that aren’t on the list.

Another point of misinformation that was posted on ABestWeb by Kellie was that the terms of service were not presented before purchase of The Affiliate List. The FACT is that they ARE on the site at the point of purchase.

There are too many assumptions and not enough factual conversations going on. Most of those being vocal and saying bad things about The Affiliate List have not even seen the list. It reminds me of those who don’t vote yet like to complain about the government.

One wonders why people who supposedly run a business are so set on being anonymous and not wanting people to know what their sites are. Does Pricegrabber hide from Shopping.com? Does Sears hide their site from JCPenney? Anyone who has a successful affiliate site, trust me, their competition knows who they are. Seeing what my competition is up to does not make me want to copy them, it makes me want to do things better than them. Being on The Affiliate List is not going to cause others to copy your site or steal your ideas. Those who are going to make it in affiliate marketing and be successful are those who use their own ideas and innovate.

For anyone wanting to see their listing, Jeff has offered to show it to any affiliate who asks. Last I heard Jeff hadn’t gotten many requests.

I do have a few observations of my own on The Affiliate List. Some of the information was not complete. Jeff shows all the sites on one IP each affiliate has. I know of quite a few affiliates that have more sites than he listed scattered over many IPs. In order for this list to be really helpful to Affiliate Managers it needs to be complete so they can make informed decisions when choosing whether to work with these affiliates. There were also a few that he did not show them as having download applications when in fact they do.

A very wise person I know suggested, “I think a better product or a good supplemental would have been The Crap Affiliate List. Here is a long list of affiliates to AVOID and why. Save $$$ by buying my list of crappy partnerships and avoid harassing e-mails, fraud, deception, lost time, brand damage, typo squatters, etc. (Sadly it would be longer than Jeff’s List)”

About Connie Berg

Connie Berg is the Founder of FlamingoWorld.com and iShopDaily.com. Founded in 1998, FlamingoWorld.com offers discounts and coupons from online retailers, while iShopDaily.com focuses on price comparison and product search. ForMeToCoupon.com is a new venture which offers an automated, customized affiliate coupon feed which consolidates coupons and deals across all major affiliate networks in a standard format. You can find Connie on Twitter @connieberg.

Filed under: Affiliate Marketing
  • http://NoCookie Jonathan (Trust)

    "Shortly after the post, the conspiracy theorists got to work."

    Good way to stop that is to actually answer questions brought up instead of remaining silent.

  • http://none Paul

    "A very wise person I know suggested, "I think a better product or a good supplemental would have been The Crap Affiliate List. Here is a long list of affiliates to AVOID and why. Save $$$ by buying my list of crappy partnerships and avoid harassing e-mails, fraud, deception, lost time, brand damage, typo squatters, etc. (Sadly it would be longer than Jeff's List)""

    Too funny! You are so right. I think I was booted of the abestweb board about 2 years ago. I simply stated my observation of the board being 99%, "$75 a month, b*tches".

    Man, I'm glad I got the boot, or I might have ended up a, "$75 a month, b*tch".

    Now, I'm laughing all the way to the bank.

    Thanks for the article, Connie!